Consumers today use self-service technologies to schedule appointments, make travel plans, pay bills and manage many other aspects of their lives.
As a result, many individuals increasingly expect similar tools and experiences in healthcare.
Becker's Hospital Review recently spoke with two leaders from RevSpring about how self-service technologies can dramatically improve patient and provider experiences. Heather Crowell, senior vice president, national accounts, and Daniel Harris, senior vice president, business development, shared use cases for self-service technology in healthcare, benefits for patients and providers and how self-service technologies can deliver a more personalized patient financial experience.
Self-service technologies create opportunities for better experiences
Increasingly, consumers of all ages are comfortable with self-service technology and value the convenient, user-friendly experience these products offer. Three use cases where self-service technologies deliver significant value to consumers are:
- Scheduling appointments. Few people like having to call a physician's office to schedule or reschedule an appointment. Being able to go online to schedule is fast, easy and comfortable, and provides patients with more control.
- Completing pre-visit clinical documentation. Providers often require patients to complete duplicative paper-based forms. This typically occurs when a patient arrives for an appointment and must spend time completing forms about their medical history. Many patients, especially older individuals with an extensive medical history, may not remember all of their information.
Being able to complete this information in advance, with access to one's personal medical information and possibly with the assistance of a loved one, is less stressful, more convenient and yields a more complete, accurate medical history. "From a patient perspective, it allows you the time to go through the process and gather the information you need," Ms. Crowell said. This way, when a patient arrives for an appointment, they can proceed to see the clinician without having to complete extensive forms from memory.
These digital intake tools deliver higher patient satisfaction. "There's a direct correlation between offering a digital intake process and providers' net promoter score," Mr. Harris said.
- Providing visibility into financial responsibilities. It is preferable to have visibility before an appointment about expected copays and other financial responsibilities, as opposed to learning what's owed at the time of service. Technology makes it easy to provide visibility into financial responsibilities. Technology also makes it possible to pay a copay in advance, which can be beneficial in situations such as paying for an elderly parent's copay.
"Being able to manage these different processes, for me as a patient — and also my extended family members — is huge," Ms. Crowell said. "It gives patients more control."
There is tremendous value for providers in self-service technologies
"A large percentage of providers still have a paper-based process," Mr. Harris said. A paper-based process is slow, inefficient and prone to errors. Self-service tools streamline the patient intake process, decreasing the burden on staff to collect and input patient data, and making it much faster for clinicians to review a patient's history before seeing the patient.
Mr. Harris cited the example of a practice in Houston that began offering a self-service digital intake process allowing patients to input clinical information from their mobile phone prior to their appointment. This practice went from having around 80 percent clean patient data to more than 95 percent clean, accurate data. Currently, 85 percent of patients are completing the digital intake process on their mobile device prior to service.
Also, based on today's persistent healthcare staffing shortages, many providers lack adequate staffing and see investing in front-end technologies as a necessity. "When you automate, you're addressing the huge gaps in staffing that providers are seeing right now," Ms. Crowell said.
Self-service technologies can help personalize the patient financial experience
There is a perception that more technology will create a less personal, less human experience. However, the right technology can help create a more personalized experience.
As an example, using technology, it is possible to understand each patient's personal communication preferences — and to then communicate with each patient based on their preferred modality, whether via email, text or over the phone.
Digital tools from RevSpring — which include scoring based on a patient's financial situation and their ability and likelihood to pay a bill — help providers personalize communications and payment plans.
"It is important to be empathetic throughout that process, especially around large balance amounts, providing patients with options to pay over time and being flexible in communicating," Mr. Harris said. "If the patient has a great clinical experience and then a poor financial experience, they're much less likely to return."
Conclusion
Today, in healthcare, as in other industries, consumers increasingly expect to be able to have self-service digital tools for scheduling, bill paying, accessing information and other uses. Self-service tools can enhance patients' clinical and financial experience, improve their satisfaction and boost providers' efficiency and productivity amid persistent staffing shortages.